TEDDY READY FOR SATURDAY'S OPENER

With tomorrow’s first game of the season getting ever closer, how is the gaffer feeling ahead of making his competitive managerial debut?

“Excited, raring to go and a few butterflies!”

Teddy Sheringham will lead his players out tomorrow against Notts County and he is confident that the players will be as prepared as possible come 3pm, Saturday.

“From a staff point of view we have looked at Notts County, Ipswich and Newport. Now the emphasis is on Notts County and that is what we are talking about with the players, there won’t be any talk about going any further than that because there is only one game to worry about at the moment.

“If you start thinking about the second and third game, you get yourself in all sort of problems.

“I would like to think by Saturday the players will have no uncertainty in their mind about what is expected of them.”

Teddy’s backroom staff is now complete after yesterday's confirmation of Dmitri Kharine’s appointment as goalkeeper coach. Teddy says Dmitri’s impact has been immediate.

“Dmitri has come in and he is very effective. The first thing he said was ‘I don’t want to be their friends, I want them to work.” That’s what he has done.

“We have had a lot of goalkeepers come in this summer, probably the most in any position because we are looking for a second goalkeeper along with Daisy and we have been looking and looking and looking.

“We have had a few about, he has worked them and said ‘not bad, but not good enough, not bad, but not good enough’, so we will keep looking.”

Saturday’s opponents will arrive at the Lamex with 18 new signings, more than any other club in the Football League. Teddy hopes that the familiarity between many of Boro’s likely starters will prove to be an advantage.

“I hope so. It is not easy to put 20 new players together and tell them to go out and perform how you want. I do hope it works in our favour but you never know.

“New players have an excitement, an enthusiasm, an exuberance in their make up as they want to impress so we will have to be on our guard for that. They will definitely be full of energy, I know that.”

Despite it being his first game in charge, Teddy says it is a players game and on Saturday it is all about them.

“All eyes are on me for two minutes maybe. Once that is over then the players are out there to do their jobs on the pitch and then it is all about them really. Once it is over, again it is about my explanation about what went right and what went wrong.

“I want the players to go out there and express themselves and enjoy being professional footballers. That is what football is all about.”

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Tickets are available at in-advance prices up until 5pm tonight, online at www.borotickets.co.uk or in-store. You can buy on the day too, just rock up to the cash turnstiles!